NFL Draft: Bears load up at defensive line, receiver

Monday

Apr 27, 2009 at 12:01 AMApr 27, 2009 at 3:42 PM

From pool-jumping pass rusher Jarron Gilbert to cornerback/receiver/tailback/slot back/punt returner/kick returner D.J. Moore, the Chicago Bears loaded up Sunday on versatile and talented athletes on the second day of the NFL Draft.

Matt Trowbridge

From pool-jumping pass rusher Jarron Gilbert to cornerback/receiver/tailback/slot back/punt returner/kick returner D.J. Moore, the Chicago Bears loaded up Sunday on versatile and talented athletes on the second day of the NFL Draft.

“We prefaced athleticism with this draft,” general manager Jerry Angelo said. “We were looking a lot at ceiling with these players.”

Instead of taking a second-round receiver, the Bears traded down Saturday and wound up with defensive linemen Gilbert and Henry Melton with those two picks.

“We really wanted to infuse our defense with some young talent,” Angelo said. “That was one of the goals of this draft.”

Gilbert, the fourth pick in the third round (no. 68 overall), started out at defensive end at San Jose State before moving inside to tackle as a senior. Fourth-round pick Melton (No. 105 overall) is a running back-turned-defensive end who had four times as many touchdowns (16) as sacks (four) at Texas. Yet the Bears said both should join the regular defensive line rotation.

“He’s ready to go,” Angelo said of the 6-foot-5, 288-pound Gilbert, who can be seen making a standing leap out of a pool on YouTube. “As a senior, he took a quantum step. It was irrelevant what his competition was. They played Cal-Davis. They played Nebraska. He goes down to the East-West (all-star) game. You kept seeing the same things from the same player.”

Melton is further away, but Greg Gabriel, the Bears director of college scouting, said: “He can make an impact. He’s got some natural pass-rush skills. He’ll fit into the rotation.

“Plus, we’ve got three defensive linemen coming out of contracts at the end of this season. Defensive line is the cornerstone of this franchise.”

Iglesias, who had 2,057 yards the last two years at Oklahoma, isn’t as big or fast as Mohamed Massaquoi, the receiver the Bears passed on by trading down Saturday, but he also doesn’t have Massaquoi’s history of drops.

“You’ve gotta be able to catch it,” Gabriel said. “He’s a very sure-handed guy. He has one of the better pair of hands in this class of receivers.”

Fifth-rounder Johnny Knox of Division II Abilene Christian also has “reliable hands,” according to SI.com, and is even faster than Massaquoi. Much faster. He ran a 4.29 in the 40 at the NFL Combine and was one of the fastest players in the draft. Still, he’s raw.

“There’s a lot of fast guys that have good hands,” Gabriel said. “You’ve got to look at the learning curve, but the physical traits are really strong. He was clearly one of the fastest receivers and we’re looking for a guy who can stretch the field.”

The Bears also took Pitt receiver Derek Kinder, a first-team All-Big East choice before tearing his ACL two years ago, in the seventh round.

Moore was a first-team All-American cornerback at Vanderbilt who also returned kicks, played offense 10 or 20 plays a game and turned pro a year early.

“He’s just a special athlete with great ball skills,” Angelo said. “I haven’t seen a corner with those kind of ball skills since (current Bear Nathan) Vasher, and he’s very, very athletic.”

Iglesias, considered a possession receiver, is about the only draftee that didn’t fit that pure-athlete profile. Fifth-round linebacker Marcus Freeman, a three-year starter at Ohio State, and seventh-round tight end Lance Louis of San Diego State, a 300-pounder who never caught more than five passes in a season but ran a 4.75-second 40-yard dash, even fit that mold.

“All these players were really good value players,” Angelo said. “This was a very good second-day draft.”